animal with the longest lifespan

[kabuto]

just wondering now, what animal has the longest lifespan?

is it the turtle

[Darby]

It kind of depends on how you define "lifespan," although some recent research seems to suggest that turtles may never die of old age.

But how old is an ameba? Do you date from the last division, or from the first ameba?

[Poison]

I was going to say the same thing, Darby.
Do you don't consider dividing as dying, (and usually it is not considered as dying), then you can never know how old a single celled organism is.

PS: I remember a similar debate a few months ago.

[canalon]

PS: I remember a similar debate a few months ago.

Me too. And about ageing in single cell organism, you can read this paper. Have fun.

[kiekyon]

this is the best i can find

ocean quahog = 225 yr
rockfish =205
galapagos tortoise = 150
Turkey Buzzard = 118
Swan = 102

and this is an interesting link

http://www.wonderquest.com/LifeSpan-MaxMin.htm

[Darby]

The estimate on Galapagos tortoises was revised up a few years' back.

Someone doing restocking of eggs (they and hatchlings get quickly dispatched by rats and so need to be gathered and raised to non-ratfood size before release) estimated from shipping accounts when some of the islands picked up their rat populations and figured that on at least one island there had been no new tortoises for over 300 years (but there were still lots of old ones there).

And a longterm study of regular turtles in Michigan (there was an article in Discover a couple of years ago) found that many turtles that were present as adults back in the 1920's were still around, showing no sign of aging, and their reproductive rates were actually still rising. I've had turtles, adults of uncertain age when rescued, in my lab for 25 years, and they have not changed a bit (maybe they're a teensy bit bigger).

[kiekyon]

The estimate on Galapagos tortoises was revised up a few years' back.

Someone doing restocking of eggs (they and hatchlings get quickly dispatched by rats and so need to be gathered and raised to non-ratfood size before release) estimated from shipping accounts when some of the islands picked up their rat populations and figured that on at least one island there had been no new tortoises for over 300 years (but there were still lots of old ones there).

And a longterm study of regular turtles in Michigan (there was an article in Discover a couple of years ago) found that many turtles that were present as adults back in the 1920's were still around, showing no sign of aging, and their reproductive rates were actually still rising. I've had turtles, adults of uncertain age when rescued, in my lab for 25 years, and they have not changed a bit (maybe they're a teensy bit bigger).

so, what is the revised lifespan?

and about the turtle in your lab, animal in captivity do tend to have longer lifespan

[Darby]

300 years plus.

The lifespan effects of captivity vary - there's no way to be sure whether it works that way with reptiles (except that they're unlikely to be predated on).

Lifespan is a weird thing, anyway. How long is a non-domestic animal's lifespan? Could you design a field study to determine how long a given critter lives in the wild (and be sure that anything you do to find out wouldn't stress it and shorten that span)? It can be done with large animals in a semi-confined space (like elephants in a national park, or Galapagos tortoises), but how would you do it with, say, a monkey, or a swordfish, or a pond turtle?

The lifespans you find in lists are largely anecdotal. Kind of like their speeds, which are all based on individual guesses.